Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, TX – Palm Valley Animal Society (PVAS) has been experiencing extraordinarily high intake over the past several months due to excessive calls from the community and limited field operations in place to assist the public on behalf of local animal control agencies. Palm Valley has approximately 1,750 animals in custody, with most of those animals in their two facilities and some in foster homes.
“There are four or five pets in most kennels, and we have reached a breaking point,” Executive Director Donna Casamento said. “We are being forced to euthanize saveable pets now, simply because too many are entering and not enough are leaving. We urgently need help today.”
Since the beginning of May, PVAS has taken in nearly 2,400 dogs and cats, including more than 700 each from Edinburg and Hidalgo County and more than 800 from McAllen. With this high rate of intake, the PVAS admissions team has been receiving an average of 60 animals every single day. Almost 300 of those animals were unweaned puppies and kittens, many of whom require time-intensive bottle feeding and all whom are at high risk of illness in a typically stressful shelter setting.
PVAS is asking for the following emergency assistance:
Animal control should cease picking up healthy animals who are not in immediate danger and focus on bringing in only sick and injured animals, dogs that pose an immediate public safety risk, and pets who are otherwise in immediate danger.
Fosters are needed now for more than 300 vulnerable pets, including kittens, puppies, moms and babies, senior pets, and animals recovering from illness or injury. To foster a pet today, register online at pvastx.org/foster or email foster@pvastx.org.
Adopt a pet. If you have been considering adopting a pet, now is the time when you can truly save a life. Because PVAS is so overcrowded, virtually every pet is at risk of sickness and euthanasia, so adopters are desperately needed. To adopt a pet today, visit Trenton Center or The Laurie P. Andrews Center or start the adoption process online at pvastx.org/adopt.
If you live in one of the Cities above and are missing your pet, we urge you to visit today to reclaim your pet to prevent the risk of euthanasia. Visit our Trenton Center between 11 am-7 pm with a valid driver’s license and pictures with your pet to reclaim them.
If you live in one of the Cities above and have found a pet we urge you to stop by your local veterinarian or shelter and ask that the pet be scanned for a microchip. If one is found, reach out to the pet owner to reunite the pet without surrendering it to the shelter. Encourage your municipal animal control agencies to have their officers carry microchip scanners and return microchipped animals to their homes instead of bringing them to the shelter.
If you need to rehome your pet, there are many options available outside of surrendering it to a shelter. Call PVAS for advice. We have many options available to help you find a home for your pet including rehoming platforms such as Home to Home, which allows pet owners to post their animals and interact with potential candidates to directly adopt their pet outside of the shelter. Home to Home can be accessed via our website at pvastx.org or by visiting home-home.org.
Spread the word. Tell friends, family, and neighbors that PVAS is facing a space emergency and needs help now. Share information about adoptable pets on your social media platforms and help us get the word out.
Refrain from calling for stray/feral cats or newborn kittens unless injured. PVAS has a Community Cat program and can work with you to schedule spay/neuter services and return those cats back to their community and prevent reproduction. Far too often nursing kittens are picked up and brought into the shelter when they have a much better chance of survival if left alone. Kittens need their mothers, who often run away from people and may be hiding nearby as their kittens are “kitnapped” by well-meaning citizens. Kittens under the age of 6 weeks should not be brought to the shelter. PVAS will provide foster supplies to those in the community who wish to help if the mother is unable to be found.
“Every day, we’re making difficult decisions on which pets live and which die, because we no longer have room in the shelter for incoming pets,” Casamento said. “Your help makes all the difference in the world when it comes to saving the lives of these animals.”
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